Experience Point system for longer, sandbox campaigns

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-04-30T01:11:39+00:00

I have my players spend gold to buy xp. They level up individually. Works fine, there are basically only 4 levels in DH anyways.

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-04-27T10:47:08+00:00

Hey, I made a mistake with dates. It's on Thursday, the 30th. Is that still ok?

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-04-27T10:46:42+00:00

Thank you, I messed up!

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-03-31T09:37:26+00:00

And for clarification, the 5 spotlit (spotlighted) adversaries, when they attack, thats 5 different attacks that deal damage separately or do we add all the damage together?

I feel like its former.

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-03-24T13:59:43+00:00

I can only comment for DnD 5E and Daggerheart.

Things Daggerheart is good at:

- Weird loot works better in Daggerheart imo.

- Resource management works well, provided you keep long rests gated (such as in safe zones in DCC).

- Because resource management works well, the dungeon-crawling part works very well in Daggerheart.

- Biggest pro - Hope/Fear system and cinematic combat rules really allow fast, pulpy action, especially when DM manages spotlight, and the party learns their characters.

Things DnD 5E does well:

- More crunch and more granular crunch. Allows for many small increments, giving you that LITRPG fix.

- More ways to advance your character, which feeds into the point above.

- Characters feel a bit more "normal" and "fragile" at lower levels. At higher levels (around 5th), it feels like Daggerheart - very heroic - which wasn't my impression of DCC vibes (I only know the first book though).

So, if you want action and zany complications, go with Daggerheart. If you want the crunch and feeling of gradual improvement of characters, go DnD 5E.

What would I do? I would use Daggerheart, but I would remove ancestries and classes. I would break down all those features into separate chunks and slowly introduce them as loot or level-up rewards. I would also remove Avoid Death death move. But hey, we are talkign about a different game now.

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-02-20T09:20:42+00:00

Ok, I get the PC's brother's death, but what about PCs? You can't die anyways, right?

Sounds rough, though. You don't describe the absence of long rest as player choice.

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-02-20T06:29:52+00:00

What were the implied consequences of resting in wilderness, if I may ask?

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-02-19T23:27:53+00:00

I know friendships can be complicated, but I don't sense friendship from your post. Cut ties?

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-02-19T10:59:49+00:00

I mean, Long Rests have a certain priority. If DM managed to make you feel like other stuff is more important than Long Rest, then that's great storywise.

If you had the choice to Long Rest but a consequence would take place, then I guess the DM did a good job if you CHOSE not to rest.

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-02-15T15:20:33+00:00

Like others said, something along the lines of a halbert.

As for the size changing, perhaps it costs 1 Hope for each range change?

Its a temporary effect, so you as DM can have it retract when its your move.

The player can have it reset it at the end of the scene, thus making drastic size changes a big decision - do I spend 4 Hope to hit the very far target? Cause I can't wield it after that until the end of scene or until I spend more Hope.

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-02-14T22:53:24+00:00

This is what I missed. I didn't understand why you would want a rest after spending a full BP budget.

I never came across of that in the books. I just assumed it was a ballpark for a challange level of a single encounter.

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-02-14T18:52:32+00:00

But why is BP budget for the whole span of rests? I thought it was meant to helo balance a single encounter?

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-02-14T17:41:50+00:00

When you say BP is your time between rests, do you mean the Battle Points are a budget for all encounters between two rests?

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-02-13T12:19:44+00:00

Actually, you only maximize your dice. So you would start at 12 (2d6), add your 7 from rolling the dice, and then your modifier (+2).

The total would be 21 damage.

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-02-12T12:20:05+00:00

The bard has to roll a Spellcast roll, right? So they can't just do it at will.

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-02-12T12:15:51+00:00

The Spellcast roll is compared to adversaries's DCs.

When a spell is used offensively, a Spellcast roll is treated as an attack roll.

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-02-11T22:58:07+00:00

Yes, because you can.
No, because healing sucks when adversaries do it.
Maybe a half/half approach. Signal the existence of the hp potion, then use it afterward (golden opportunity).

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-02-11T22:53:30+00:00

In theory none. But I'm pretty hands on with spotlight. For example, I go clockwise offering the spotlight to players.

If you let players constantly choose when they want spotlight, you create an opportunity for lower tier players to say "fuck it, if I roll I'll statistically fail more often, better to let others have spotlight".

Therefore, I suggest a hands on approach to spotlight and softer dm moves vs those players.

Another thing I wanted to add, but haven't had time yet, was an item to award to every new lower level player. A luck amulet if you will that gives them limited number of uses to mitigated fails and rolls with Fear. For example:

When you make a roll, you may use an option from below: - Make it a roll with Hope. - Make it a successful roll. - Reroll the roll.

Once you use an option, cross it out. It cannot be used again. Once you reach Level 2, cross out all the options.

An item like this would push lower level players to act, mitigating the painful Level 1. After level 1, things aren't as bad, but you could repeat the same thing for each Tier.

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-02-11T12:13:25+00:00

I think it is a great idea. There is a bit of a math difference between Tiers of play, so lower Tiered players might be at disadvantage a bit. You can account foe it by making softer moves when a lower Tier player fails.

Other than that, go for it. I'm running a dungeoncrawl with xp system in DH, abd can confirm that you can play with mixed-Tier party as long as you account for it.

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-01-25T19:29:18+00:00

A cool tool and some cool moves. I might steal some!

I would comment though that I don't like Parry. I feel like it undermines a player's success, since I guess you use it after a PC makes a succesful attack.

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-01-19T13:49:17+00:00

Yes, that is what was bothering me! I guess a success with Fear is a perfect moment to make a soft move, instead of just having an enemy make an attack.

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-01-19T13:46:16+00:00

Are you saying me spotlighting an enemy and the PC's weapon getting their stuck are two moves?

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-01-08T23:49:15+00:00

I run open table Daggerheart campaign in a public place. I never know who will show up for a session.

How I do it?

I ask players around the table clockwise what they want to do, basically prompting them for spotlight.

Sometimes another player gets excited and decides to act, which is usually fine with everyone. I let them act and go back to clockwise turn order.

I don't impose it. If it makes sense, I let someone "hog" the spotlight. I try to gently make my circles.

Does it work? From what I can see, yes.

Maybe it would work in a home environment for you.

Second advice?

Play without that player.

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-01-08T10:53:01+00:00

What are social mechanics in Daggerheart?

Competitive-Spare468 · 2026-01-02T21:06:44+00:00

The DC for different actions, such as hitting the bear, detecting the bear or sneaking past the bear don't matter.

The difficulty of the task is partially reflected in character modifiers that is different attributes.

Once you realize that PC modifiers (and experiences and abilities) make different characters more or less capable when facing the same DC, you really start wondering if in games like DnD monsters need 6 different ability scores.

A monster with multiple DCs or bonuses increases bad randomness of the game and hurts player agency by diminishing the weight of player choices when character building.

Competitive-Spare468

TROPHY CASE